West Indies v England : Day 2

Much like the first day, day two of the first Test between the West Indies and England proved a hard-fought affair, with both teams making progress at crucial stages. The West Indies resumed at 311/9 but not much was done before Edwards (2) departed victim to Hoggard, who finished with figures of 3/68.

The dismissed Edwards then shone with the ball in bowling a superb first spell where he troubled all the batsmen who faced him, dismissing the openers in the process. The woefully out-of-form Marcus Trescothick (7) clamped down onto his stumps a 94 mph delivery and England captain Michael Vaughan (15) drove at an outswinger to be held at first slip.

The score now 33/2 and Edwards on fire in the midst of an opening burst of 2/23 from 8 overs. The new batsmen, Butcher and Hussain struggled mightily initially, with the former edging his first ball from Edwards just past offstump. He was then dropped by Ramnaresh Sarwan when he had just 4 runs to his name. This would prove a rather costly miss, as Butcher and Hussain forged the likes of a solid partnership. Hussain also had some luck as he received a superb outswinging yorker first up, which just missed his offstump. Then he was hit on the helmet by returning pacer Tino Best.

Both batsmen stood up to the fiery West Indian bowling and survived until lunch, but not before Best knocked Butcher on the helmet with the last ball prior. After lunch batting got visibly easier as the ball softened and the bowlers tired. Hussain and Butcher started to look quite comfortable at the crease and put together a fine century stand. Butcher reached his fifty and the partnership reached 119 when he was dismissed to a loose shot outside offstump for a well-played 58.

Two balls earlier Butcher had been dropped by Brian Lara at first slip, who consequently went off the field for treatment after dislocating his little finger. Precautionary X-rays were taken, but no news as to the severity as of yet. This took place in a short burst of play after a two hour rain interval stretching from tea. The session lasted just 3.1 overs, but proved crucial for the home side in breaking the key partnership and leaving the score at 154/3 at stumps.

Rather than a nightwatchman, Graham Thorpe took his place at the crease, replacing his Surrey team mate, and was unbeaten on 1 at the close. Former captain, Nasser Hussain stands on 41 from 106 balls. To date Fidel Edwards has claimed all the wickets to fall for an impressive 3 for 50, whilst Tino Best (0/14) still searches for his first Test wicket.

Score Summary:

West Indies 1st innings 311 ao (86.4 overs)
(DS Smith 108, RO Hinds 84, RD Jacobs 38)
(MJ Hoggard 3/68, SJ Harmison 2/61, SP Jones 2/62, AF Giles 2/67)

England 1st innings 154/3 (48.1 overs)
(MA Butcher 58, N Hussain 41 not out)
(FH Edwards 3/50)

Posted by Liam